Committee lays over $8 million food-shelf appropriation after testimony on rising need

The House Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee heard testimony and laid over House File 777, a bipartisan bill to provide $8,000,000 in funding for food shelves over the upcoming biennium.

Representative Kolter, the bill sponsor, said the proposal would allocate $8 million total — $4 million each year of the biennium — to food shelves across Minnesota to help meet rising demand. He described the request as a direct, flexible appropriation for food shelves and said the bill continues to gain bipartisan support.

Multiple testifiers described steep increases in use. Al Geraci, pastor and founder of Hope for the Community, said his network of seven food-shelf locations served 96,000 households and distributed 2.3 million pounds of groceries last year. Dom Corbell, executive director of Community Pathways of Steele County, described hunger as “paralyzing” and urged the committee to move funds to the network so providers can guarantee stable supply. Remote testifier Rick Kocherak said his food shelf at PRISM in Golden Valley serves about 125 people per day and sees about 20 new intakes daily.

Representative Olson and others praised the bill’s structure; Olson noted that 96% of the appropriation in the draft would go directly to food shelves while a small share is set aside for administrative support. Committee members asked about allocation formulas; sponsors said allocating by a formula used by Hunger Solutions and the food bank coalition produces a fair distribution aligned with usage.

Representative Kolter closed by urging the committee to advance the measure; the bill was laid over for possible inclusion in a later omnibus bill.